Living the Swank Life one post at a time.

Good vs. Evil: Documentary Style

Sweetie and I just returned from seeing one of the best documentaries I have ever had the pleasure of seeing as part of the Seattle International Film Festival. It's called The King of Kong and if you're planning to be in the Seattle area on August 17 you MUST go see the premiere at The Varsity. Not only because it is a kick-ass movie that you want to see, but also so that the film has a strong enough premiere that it will see wider distribution, and the my friends who aren't in the Seattle area can see it as well.

The premise of the movie is very simple. It follows one guy's attempt to become the world record holder at the game Donkey Kong. Which is damn impressive in my eyes, because I always sucked royally at the game.

The hero is Steve Weibe, junior high school science teacher here in Redmond, that's an all-around nice guy who has seen his share of bad luck in his life.

The enemy is Billy Mitchell, a total tool who has been living and breathing video games for the last 25 years. To the point where his hair and fashion sense got left back in 1982, when he was first declared world champion.

It's the story of the every man vs the machine, with a cast of characters that seem to wacky to be true that you meet along the way. There's lots of drama and controversy, and it's all over a video game that I haven't thought about in at least 20 years.

It's been compared to other documentaries such as Spellbound or Word Freak, that are also about people trying to achieve champion status in a quirky specialty, but this movie is special because of the nature of the process. There are spelling bees and crossword competitions every year, so a film maker can decide that would make a good story, and go from there. The world of competitive video gaming is much more fluid. Basically, a buddy of Steve's heard about the story at a neighborhood BBQ. This buddy knew a couple of documentary film makers looking for their next story and pitched it to them. And they all happened to be at the right place at the right time, to be able to catch it all on film.

I won't say much more, because I don't want to give it all away, but you really do need to see this movie.